Reply To: How Do You Build Your Director’s Shot List?

[Jon]

My perspective is primarily from the perspective of a cinematographer on small independent films. But I’ve found on projects of that size, often a lot of the preproduction on shot lists goes out the window pretty quickly unfortunately. This is primarily because of the variables encountered on projects like this. Locations dictate a lot of the options, as does blocking and of course time. I still think it’s a worthwhile endeavor, it helps to give me an idea of the directors’s visual storytelling. These shot lists also help with very specific or unique shots that we’ll put extra effort into. But on smaller, long form projects, there is often a lot of need for flexibly, and to not get to tied to your shot list or storyboards. I can’t tell you how often, a storyboard looks great, but isn’t possible in our location. Shot lists are more flexible, but blocking and time often times dictate our shot options, so the shot lists can vary significantly from what gets shot.